STOCKHOLM, June 26 (Reuters) - Tech lobbying group CCIA

Europe, whose members include Alphabet, Meta

and Apple ( AAPL ), on Thursday urged European Union to pause

implementation of the AI Act, saying a rushed roll-out risks

jeopardizing the continent's AI aspirations.

Europe's landmark AI rules entered into force in June last

year with various provisions to be implemented in a phased

manner.

Important provisions of the EU AI Act, including rules for

general purpose AI (GPAI) models, were due to apply on August 2.

But some parts of the GPAI, which were expected to be published

on May 2, got delayed.

"With critical parts of the AI Act still missing just weeks

before rules kick in, we need a pause to get the Act right, or

risk stalling innovation altogether," said Daniel Friedlaender,

CCIA Europe's senior vice president.

Political leaders such as Swedish Prime Minister Ulf

Kristersson have also called AI rules "confusing" and asked the

EU to pause the Act, ahead of a meeting with other EU leaders in

Brussels on Thursday.

More than two-thirds of European businesses said they

struggle to understand their responsibilities under the EU AI

Act, according to a survey by Amazon Web Services.

The EU AI Act is more comprehensive than the United States'

light-touch voluntary compliance approach while China's approach

aims to maintain social stability and state control.

"We are currently implementing the AI Act," EU tech chief

Henna Virkkunen told EU lawmakers earlier this month when asked

if she would consider a temporary halt to enforcing the AI Act.

"I want to implement it in a very innovation friendly manner

... the main concern among some stakeholders is that this is

hindering innovations."